Company Overview
Highlights
The world's largest performance rights society.
ASCAP’s board of directors is made up solely of members.
Started in 1914 by Irving Berlin, John Philip Sousa, and Victor Herbert as a way to ensure that they would be paid for future use of their music, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (better known by its acronym, ASCAP) has since grown into the largest organization of its kind in the world. The nonprofit group—run entirely by members—licenses and distributes royalties accrued from any public use (television, live performance, radio) of members’ work. The 240,000-strong membership consists of a range of musical types including lyricists, composers, songwriters, and music publishers. The organization grew with the heightened popularity of radio in the 1920s and television in the 1950s, then cable TV in the 1980s.